


Amacuse

by JK Ashavah (ashavah)



Category: Stargate Atlantis
Genre: Character Study, Gen, POV Female Character
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2010-07-27
Updated: 2010-07-27
Packaged: 2017-11-14 01:09:17
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,793
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/509709
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ashavah/pseuds/JK%20Ashavah
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Two very different peoples, thrown together by circumstance, became friends with one woman caught between them. Today, they celebrate. Written for the <a href="http://ineffort.livejournal.com/198749.html">Awesome Ladies Ficathon</a> on Livejournal.  Set during season 1.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Amacuse

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks to my sister for her assistance and beta reading.  
>  **Disclaimer:** Not mine! It belongs to MGM, Brad Wright, and Robert C. Cooper. No harm or infringement is intended and no money is being made!

Not by anyone's measure, and certainly not by Teyla's.

The days, weeks, months that flowed from the moment she heard Halling's call of 'I bring men from away!' saw so much sorrow. They saw Athos razed, her people killed, captured, or at best driven from their homes to see their worst fears realized as the Wraith all across the galaxy began to awaken. Their temporary home on Atlantis proved to be untenable for both the Athosians and their hosts. And once they'd found their new home on the mainland and settled there, their crops and their new settlement were ravaged by a storm to the point where they nearly had to start over.

It's taken them the better part of a year to finally be able to harvest their first crops, to become self-sufficient again and not need to rely on trading what little they have simply to survive.

Some still dream of a return to Athos, but Teyla, in her heart, knows that will never be possible. The Wraith destroyed it out of spite, in revenge for their defiance after the captives taken from the settlement escaped. If the Athosians ever return, they will do the same again. The Wraith are not forgiving.

But in the face of all this, they have survived. More than that, they now have a hand in events that will shape the future of her galaxy. Because while times are dark, they are no longer hopeless.

Life all across the Pegasus Galaxy has always been harsh. Everybody she had ever met before Halling brought the visitors from Earth had spent their entire life in fear. There was no way to escape it. Every planet that uses their Stargate eventually attracts the Wraith. Wherever she went, she met people who knew the same oppression, the same terror of what might appear in the sky, the same tragedy of loss. She knew nobody whose life had not been touched by the Wraith.

And then they came, a small group of warriors from a distant planet she'd never heard of, stranded and isolated in unfamiliar lands. And everything changed. The very next night, her planet was attacked, her people culled. She fully expected that when she was taken by the Wraith to their great ship and imprisoned, it would be her death.

But it wasn't. The newcomers showed that they had spirits as strong as anyone she'd ever met, though perhaps forged in less adversity. They were not afraid to fight to protect their own or to forge themselves a new home in Atlantis. John Sheppard may have awakened the Wraith, but he's also done more to defy them than anyone else she's known. She tells anyone who asks her why she wears the uniform of Atlantis that the galaxy has hope now where once there was none. It's not empty words, for she honestly believes it. 

Halling once told her that the people of Atlantis are not the Ancestors, suggesting that she pinned too much hope on them. But they may well be their heirs of the Ancestors in more than just blood. And though they've had their differences, they've also proved to be the best allies that her people have ever had. It has taken her some time to convince them believe that; and it's true there have been many times when she's felt torn between two worlds, the world she and her people left behind with the scorched earth of Athos and the world that they've been thrown into by all that has happened.

But she's made her choice. She made it the day she accepted the offer to join John's reconnaissance team, and she's affirmed it many times since. Though she misses her people every day, she knows that her function as a leader is best served by helping Atlantis to secure her people's future and that of the galaxy at large.

That is why she's here, standing on the edge of the Athosian settlement by the field where the puddle jumpers land in the fading late of a Lantean sunset. Halling stands by her side as they await a delegation from Atlantis to share in their first Tendol Feast. Tonight's feast has a special significance, for it is the first they have had since they settled on this planet. Tonight, they share the first harvest of their new lives with their friends. Elizabeth had declared it a great honor that their people were to be invited to share in such an event, but Teyla replied that it would not have been possible were it not for all the assistance that the people of Atlantis have given them. Teyla has been here on the mainland for a day now, helping to prepare for the feast. Her people still look to her as their leader, even though she has not lived among them for many months now.

Halling has, on a daily basis, largely taken over her role and that is not without sadness for her. Change to what one has known is always painful. He is silent and dignified, his hands clasped behind his back, as they watch the sleek grey shape of the puddle jumper appear over the ocean, flying low and straight, and approach the landing area. Teyla smooths a hand across the fabric of her dress, not the one she used to wear on ceremonial occasions back on Athos, which was left behind in the evacuation. This is a new dress that Charin found off-world and gave to her yesterday, 'because you are still our leader, Teyla, whatever you might think.' She smiles at the memory as the jumper lands, then steps forward to meet her friends, each of them leaders in their own way: Carson, Rodney, Elizabeth and, last of all, Aiden and John, engaged in an animated conversation she can't hear. Both the military men are dressed in their stiff blue uniforms, Aiden's trimmed with red and gold, John's with blue and silver. She's only ever seen before at memorial ceremonies.

She much prefers them at an occasion of celebration, and she says as much to Elizabeth as the other woman comes forward to greet first Halling, then her.

"I insisted that this be treated as an occasion of diplomatic significance," Elizabeth says, with a smile that's part indulgence and part ruefulness and Teyla, who knows her friends well enough to know what they can be like at the suggestion of formality, laughs.

"You do us a great honor."

"Like I said, it's you who do us the honor. We appreciate how important this is for you and your people, Teyla."

"It is an important day for all of us," she says, resting a hand on Elizabeth's arm as she leads her friends towards the settlement where the rest of the Athosians are waiting for them. "I would not have had your people excluded. We would not be here without you."

"Nor would we without you." Elizabeth's voice is firm, and Teyla nods.

Of such things are great friendships born, and not only have her people never had such friends as those who surround them now, but neither has Teyla.

There are many things to be said about the nature of their friendship, as two peoples stranded far from their homes who have been each other's supports in hard times. They have had their differences, that much is true, and Teyla acknowledges that in the brief speech she gives once the feast has started. But like all true friends, they have acknowledged their differences and moved past them. There have been times when trust has been low between them, when one of Teyla's own people was forced to betray Atlantis to their enemies, or when Elizabeth began to suspect the Athosians of collaboration with the Wraith. But neither event has been allowed to define their relationship, and Teyla can see why as she looks around her after the feasting is over, when everyone is sitting and talking and laughing and drinking with their neighbors.

These are good people, with good leaders and good intentions. They have not always made the best choices, that much is true. But when they are needed, they have placed their own lives in danger for the sake of those they barely know, just as John did when he led a team of soldiers onto the hive ship where Teyla, Halling, and many others were held captive after the Wraith attack. John may have come primarily for the sake of his own captive friends, but he would not have left an Athosian behind. They owe him much, and he is too modest to admit it. He doesn't realize just how high a regard he is held in, that he has his own unique place in the hearts of the Athosians, especially their children. They used to play games of Wraith against human, and the Wraith was always the more sought-after part. Now it is Wraith and Major Sheppard, and he is their hero. He will be a great leader of his people one day, though she's certain he's unaware of the fact. He has already come so far since the first day she met him, for he, above all of the people of Atlantis, has seen first-hand the struggle against the Wraith.

Tonight, though, it would be hard to tell that. He has had, she thinks, at least one cup too many of Ruus wine, and it's a good thing that the delegation from Atlantis will not be flying back to the city tonight. His jacket is spread over his lap, with Jinto and Wex sitting beside him pointing at the splashes of color against the deep blue, asking what each of them means. She can't hear John's answers, but her lips curve into a gentle smile as she watches him with the boys. Nearby, Aiden is laughing with one of the young Athosian warriors with whom he has been spending time in the gym of late. Rodney and Carson are talking to Halling, who is showing them something by tracing outlines on the tables with his fingertips. 

It is on such little moments as this that the true friendship between their peoples has been built. The friends surrounding her are not only the hope of the galaxy, they are good, well-meaning people, and as she watches them, Teyla can feel a little of the tension that's been within her for so long ease; she doesn't need, and never again will need, to choose between her people and her friends. This is her life now, and as she turns back to conversation with Elizabeth, she knows that, for all the troubles behind them and all the trials ahead, this is what is right.

Their peoples belong together.


End file.
